Card upgrade option for beginners
Hi everyone,
Looking for advice on optimizing my credit card setup and figuring out what card I should get next.
Profile:
- Annual income: ~₹12L
- Salary account: ICICI
- Current card: HDFC Millennia
- CIBIL usually around 750–780
- Current credit limit: ₹1.5L
- Never missed payments, always pay in full
Spending pattern:
- Mostly offline spends
- Dining/eating out: ~₹5–7k/month
- UPI spends: ~₹12k/month (mostly snacks, small purchases, daily expenses via GPay)
- Online shopping is not super high
- Flights/hotels maybe 1–2 times a year
- Hopefully 1 international trip/year, but not guaranteed since I’m part of a startup and taking long leaves is difficult
One thing I’ve noticed is my CIBIL sometimes dips because of high utilization during larger spends. Example: while planning a Europe trip this July, I spent around ₹1.2L on my card. But I always repay fully within the billing cycle.
I did try asking HDFC for Regalia Gold as an upgrade from Millennia, but no luck so far, so now I’m looking at other options as well.
Cards I’m currently considering:
- HDFC Regalia Gold
- HSBC TravelOne
- Axis Horizon
What I’m looking for:
- Better rewards/points than Millennia
- Good cashback or reward conversion value
- Useful real-world benefits, not gimmicks
- Lounge access is nice but not top priority
- Something that actually suits my spend pattern instead of aspirational ultra-premium cards
Questions:
- Should I stay cashback-focused or move toward travel cards?
- Which of these cards actually makes sense for my spend pattern?
- Is Regalia Gold worth it for someone who doesn’t travel very frequently?
- Is HSBC TravelOne overkill for my current spending/travel frequency?
- Would getting another card mainly for higher overall limit/utilization improvement be smarter right now?
- Any good card combos for offline + UPI-heavy users without overcomplicating things?
Would appreciate advice from people with similar spending habits rather than ultra-premium travel setups 😅